Alleged TnBank robbery arrested in Alcoa

Friday

Dec 21, 2012 at 11:33 AMDec 21, 2012 at 11:36 AM

Special Agent in Charge Kenneth Moore of the Knoxville Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Acting Chief Phillip Dunn of the Alcoa Police Department announced Thursday the arrest of 79-year-old Gerald Hytken of Lenoir City in connection with several area bank robberies, including one in Oak Ridge a year ago.

by Beverly Majors/Staff

Special Agent in Charge Kenneth Moore of the Knoxville Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Acting Chief Phillip Dunn of the Alcoa Police Department announced Thursday the arrest of 79-year-old Gerald Hytken of Lenoir City in connection with several area bank robberies, including one in Oak Ridge a year ago.

Hytken is suspected of robbing the BB&T Bank on Associates Boulevard in Alcoa on Thursday evening.

Hytken is facing a federal charge for BB&T bank robbery, as well as three others including the Sept. 14, 2011, robbery of the Jackson Square branch of TnBank at 900 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

The TnBank branch bank was robbed twice in 2011, the first in September and the second time in November.

William Steven Curtis, 40, of Knoxville, was arrested in January in connection to the November robbery and was not a suspect in the September robbery. Curtis is also accused, however, of robbing the Home Federal Bank in Pigeon Forge in August 2011 and the Tennessee State Bank in Jefferson City on Jan. 4, 2012.

The suspect in the September 2011 robbery of TnBank displayed a dark-colored, semi-automatic handgun and demanded money. Witnesses described him as a white male in his late 50s to late 60s, about 6 feet tall and weighing between 170 and 180 pounds.

Hytken is also the suspect in the Jan. 14, 2011, robbery of Clayton Bank and Trust on Kingston Pike in Knoxville; and the April 15, 2012, robbery of BB&T Bank on Maynardville Pike in Knoxville.

About 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Hytken reportedly entered BB&T in Alcoa carrying a black bag. According to an FBI news release, he brandished a black semi-automatic handgun and demanded money.

At the time of the robbery, Hytken was reportedly wearing a navy-blue windbreaker style hoodie, dark gloves and a ski mask. He fled the scene in a white 2000 Buick Regal, but was almost immediately apprehended on Alcoa Highway by Alcoa police officers, the FBI release said.

The arrest was a joint investigation of the FBI, Knoxville Police Department and from the Knox County Sheriff’s Department as part of the Safe Streets Task Force, and the Alcoa Police Department Criminal Investigation Division.

Beverly Majors can be contacted at (865) 220-5514.

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